Iraq

ARTICLES ABOUT IRAQ BY DATE - PAGE 5

It's a fact of human nature that it's easier to talk about who's to blame for a problem than it is to figure out what to do about the problem. Case in point: There's a near-riot in liberal circles over the very idea that supporters of the Iraq War should even be allowed to criticize the president's handling of the current Middle East crisis, never mind offer advice on how to proceed. The Atlantic's James Fallows says Dick Cheney and company "have earned the right not to be listened to."

The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant is scaring the hell out of everyone. It has infested Syria, overrun Iraq, alarmed Iran and convinced U.S. politicians it's the most dangerous terrorist organization ever. But frightening everyone isn't a long-term growth strategy. ISIL is destroying itself. Al-Qaida, the organization from which ISIL recently split, understands this truth. For years, Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants tried to explain to their affiliates the folly of unchecked brutality.

WASHINGTON -- It's usual that an accusation against reporters comes from the political right, whether alleging they're in the tank for President Obama or that they're giving Hillary Clinton a free ride on the Benghazi terrorist attacks. But now a charge comes from the political left, passed on by a professional news kibitzer, Media Matters for America. Its website carries an article titled "By rehabilitating Iraq War boosters, is the press forgiving itself?" Eric Boehlert, a staff member, argues that in the latest military crisis in Iraq, some television reporters have gratuitously given airtime to Bush architects of the 2003 invasion to dump on Obama.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military began deploying assessment teams in Baghdad on Tuesday to evaluate the state of Iraqi security forces and decide how to help them counter an Islamist insurgency that has overrun part of the country, the Pentagon said. Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said about 40 special operations personnel already in the country and assigned to the U.S. Embassy's Office of Security Cooperation had been deployed as part of the first two assessment teams.

Sunni militants are "well positioned" to hold a broad swathe of territory captured in northern and western Iraq if the Baghdad government fails to produce a robust counter-offensive, a senior U.S. intelligence official said on Tuesday. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which seized the main northern city Mosul on June 10 and has since marched virtually unopposed towards Baghdad, is at its strongest "in years," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing sensitive information.

More than 1,000 people, mainly civilians, have been killed and roughly the same number injured in fighting and other violence in Iraq in June as Sunni militants swept through the north, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Victims include a number of confirmed summary executions committed by forces of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and prisoners killed by retreating Iraqi forces. At least 757 civilians were killed and 599 injured in the northern provinces of Nineveh, Diyala and Saladdin from June 5-22, U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville told a news briefing.

— Yes, it is true that there was no al-Qaida in Iraq when George W. Bush took office. But it is equally true that there was essentially no al-Qaida in Iraq remaining when Barack Obama took office. Which makes Bush responsible for the terrible costs incurred to defeat the 2003-09 jihadist war engendered by his invasion. We can debate forever whether those costs were worth it, but what is not debatable is Obama's responsibility for the return of the Islamist insurgency that had been routed by the time he became president.

CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will discuss with Gulf countries this week possible oil disruptions from the Iraq conflict, a senior State Department official said on Sunday. Kerry is on a tour of countries in the Middle East and Europe. He is expected to travel to Iraq soon at the request of President Barack Obama. "I would expect that to be a topic of discussion," a senior State Department official told reporters en route to Egypt when asked about possible oil supply disruptions from the Iraq conflict.

By Lesley Wroughton CAIRO (Reuters) - Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday the United States wanted Iraqis to find an inclusive leadership to contain a sweeping Islamist insurgency but Washington would not pick or choose who rules in Baghdad. Kerry was speaking at the start of a Middle East tour after talks in Cairo with Egypt's new President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi which covered Western concerns over Egypt's crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and the fallout of the crisis in Iraq.

By Mehrdad Balali DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's top leader rejected possible intervention in Iraq by the United States or other outside powers, accusing Washington on Sunday of trying to manipulate Iraqi sectarian differences to retake control of the country it once occupied. In remarks published by the official IRNA news agency, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei added that Iraqis themselves could end violence in their country, where Iran has steadily built up its own influence over the past decade.